


Drift Away

by MythicalCatie



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Death, Hospitals, Last words, M/M, Sick Rhett
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 16:19:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13884555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MythicalCatie/pseuds/MythicalCatie
Summary: Rhett had always wondered what the last words he’d ever say to Link would be. It had never been given anything more than a passing thought until now, seeing as he had been able to banish the road that his mind was headed down with simple assurances that the day when they would be necessary wasn’t here, and it wouldn’t be for a long time. But that was then. Nowadays, he’d had a lot of time to contemplate what words he’d speak to the love of his life in his final moments. After all, there was only so much to do when he was stuck in this hospital bed, staring down a clock counting backward to when he’d be taking his last breath.





	Drift Away

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, all! This is a work I'm bringing over from my Tumblr (thefrenchmaidoutfit). So, if you've seen it over there, don't worry, I'm not stealing it. It's all mine. Enjoy!

Rhett had always wondered what the last words he’d ever say to Link would be. It had never been given anything more than a passing thought until now, seeing as he had been able to banish the road that his mind was headed down with simple assurances that the day when they would be necessary wasn’t here, and it wouldn’t be for a long time. But that was then. Nowadays, he’d had a  _lot_ of time to contemplate what words he’d speak to the love of his life in his final moments. After all, there was only so much to do when he was stuck in this hospital bed, staring down a clock counting backward to when he’d be taking his last breath. 

“I love you”? Or how about “I'll miss you”? No. Link already knew those to be true statements. Of course, it couldn’t hurt to remind him (or maybe it could; he’d been crying much more than usual lately), but they were so cliché that they almost seemed… cold. Impersonal. An argument could be made that if he said them, he hadn’t put any thought into the matter at all, and that was quite simply untrue. 

Should he put in extra strength and give a sentence? Tell a joke? No. Link wouldn’t laugh anyway, and if he did, he’d feel guilty for it until the day that  **he** died (if Rhett was going now, who was going to be there to hold Link’s hand and cry for him when it was _his_ time?)

Provide some philosophical, smell the roses quote to try to get Link to see that there would be good after this, new beginnings after old ends? Something so that he’ll see the silver lining. No.  **No**. There was no silver lining in  _this._ Rhett didn’t deserve  _this_. Neither of them did. They were being cheated,  **robbed**. Their life together stolen forty years in, forty years too soon. Link would never see a silver lining in this, and he shouldn’t have to. All that he was going to see was darkness for the rest of his life, the life spent without the one person who made it all worthwhile. 

Nothing fit. Nothing seemed good enough. The two of them were losing out on so much because the world was so cruel. There was nothing that Rhett could say to heal that wound.  _Everything_ that they had planned, everything that they had ahead of them was being taken away right out from under them, and he couldn’t help but dwell on that. Until, of course, he started to look back on what was behind them. All of the good times that they’d shared together already, the ones that they cherished. It was hard to ignore the painful reminder that came with thinking of memories, the knowledge that they didn’t have very many left, and that the last ones that they’d make were all bad. Awful, even. But when he, by the grace of God (where was God to save him?), got over that mountain, it was much less painful to recall the positive things. 

_Meeting for the first time at age six, the day that was the catalyst that started it all. Coloring Mythical Beasts and being too excited to wait until they were finished to show their masterpieces off that they snuck one another peeks every minute and a half._

_Racing bikes through the woods at age eight, giggling all the way about how there was no way the other would catch up now that the first was so far ahead, but then somehow pulling it off._

_Their first kiss at age fourteen, so fumbly and messy and awkward that it sent Link into a laughing fit on Rhett’s bedroom floor, the older boy next to him not far behind in cracking up, too._

_Their wedding day at an age far too high, the afternoon that they got to stand up in front of the world to let it know that they’d never stop adoring each other. The afternoon that their kiss was **sure** and  **passionate** and  **unwavering**. The afternoon that they’d been waiting their whole lives for. _

_Sleepovers where they did anything and everything but sleep. Roses and chocolate on days definitely not Valentine’s. Breakfasts in bed. Cuddles by the fire on cold winter nights when they (almost) regretted leaving California for Christmas vacation. Hugs from behind and faces buried in chests while fingers ran through hair. Notes left on coffee cups with far too many hearts doodled surrounding sweet sentiments. Dancing in the kitchen at three in the morning while no music played, eyes drooped and shirts long shed. Smiles never wiped off his face, only widened by more happiness that made him feel like his mouth would be stuck like this forever._

Link had given him a good life. An  _amazing_ life. Even in all of the four decades that they’d shared, he struggled to tally the times that weren’t fairytale-grade. They had happened so rarely that this, right here and right now, was the only one that didn’t (couldn’t) escape him. Yes, he was missing out on more years, but the ones that he  _had_ been blessed with would never have been nearly as  _wonderful_  without his husband making them that way.   

What words were the ones worthy of a moment like this? Worthy of  _Link_ and all that he was. Worthy of everything that their time together had been. What could he say to wrap it all up and not let the opportunity for something comforting, something that would maybe, hopefully, bring his darling some peace (even if that peace was delayed), go to waste?

He could feel it. The feeling had been there for months now, of course, and had been getting worse in recent days, but it was as close as it’d ever be in this second. Rhett James McLaughlin was  **dying** , and there was no escaping it. 

He wouldn’t be there for the flatlining of the monitor that currently tracked his weakening heartbeat, wouldn’t be there for the doctor coming in to announce and officially record his time of death. He wouldn’t be around to hear Link’s screams and pleas to bring him back, wouldn’t be present to feel the younger man hold him tight and beg to wake up from this nightmare. He wouldn’t witness his coffin being carried by Link and his father and Cole and their closest friends, wouldn’t watch as flowers were tossed into his grave as Link tried to throw himself in right along with them. Wouldn’t listen as Link drove himself insane trying to discover what Rhett meant when he said the words that he was about to, wouldn’t be along for the ride as Link cried himself to sleep while the letters echoed in his head, haunting him. He’d never experience anything more, but he would be here for this. He  _would_  be here to use the last of his strength to squeeze Link’s hand, look into those tear-filled blue eyes with his own fading pair, and whisper, 

“Thank you, Link.”


End file.
